5 months ago

5 months ago

5 months ago

5 months ago

A Quick Whip Around the ACC

Posted by Matthew Auerbach on January 16th, 2018

The real-time eulogies for Duke on Monday night at Miami (FL) were erased as quickly as they were written. The consensus preseason favorite shrugged off a listless opening 12 minutes of the second half, saving its energy for a scintillating four-plus minute stretch of 18 straight points, swinging the margin from down 13 points and in trouble to up five and in control. While just a snapshot on a canvas of maddening inconsistency, what Monday’s game-changing run proved, once again, is that Duke’s best is still better than anyone else’s. The Blue Devils’ intoxicating freshman class was on full display during the surge, most notably the pure shooting stroke of Gary Trent, Jr. The 6’6” shooting guard knocked down a trio of triples during the decisive run, on his way to a career-high 30-point evening. Wendell Carter, Jr. added 15 points, 14 boards and four blocks; Marvin Bagley contributed a quiet 13 points and 12 rebounds; and point guard Trevon Duval (17 points; eight assists) navigated Miami’s generally stingy defense like a seasoned veteran. The issues with this team remain legitimate: its man-to-man defense is an atrocity (its zone, however, stagnated Miami and helped to swing the game) and Grayson Allen’s needs to find his stroke, but the height of the Blue Devils’ ceiling with all cylinders firing re-entered our collective consciousness last night.

Duke’s Comeback Kids Did It Again Last Night (USA Today Images)

Left for dead in the wake of the manhandling Kentucky put on the Cardinals to close out 2017, Louisville has recovered nicely from that 30-point defeat in Rupp Arena. After splitting a pair of games with Pittsburgh and Clemson, the Cardinals then halted Florida State’s 28-game home winning streak in Tallahassee with a second half comeback victory that nobody saw coming. Next, David Padgett’s team followed that up with an impressive 94-86 home win over Virginia Tech, featuring 13 three-point field goals from a team that typically doesn’t shoot or make many. While Deng Adel’s career-high 27 points was the most notable performance, sophomore Ryan McMahon’s contributions of 21 points in the pair of victories seemed to inject some life into a bench that has been noticeably devoid of offensive spark. It was convenient and perhaps even justified to dismiss Louisville as an ACC or national contender given the backdrop of an ongoing FBI investigation and the loss of its Hall of Fame head coach. But with only an overtime road loss to Clemson keeping the Cards from sitting atop the league standings, now is the time to remember that this roster was always considered NCAA Tournament second weekend good.

Despite a current four-game skid — most recently featuring a double-overtime heartbreaker to Florida State over the weekend — it is still a smidgen premature to throw dirt on the grave of Syracuse. The reason is that the Orange will get a break in their schedule starting tonight, hosting Pittsburgh before taking a week off until Boston College visits next Wednesday. The return game to Pittsburgh and a game at Georgia Tech follow those. It is therefore completely reasonable to expect Jim Boeheim’s squad to be back above .500 in conference play when it hosts league-leading Virginia on February 3. The toughest game in that stretch appears to be, surprisingly enough, against Boston College. How about them Eagles? With Monday night’s home upset of Florida State giving them their third ACC win, Boston College has now exceeded its total number of ACC victories in the previous two campaigns combined. Now at 13-6 overall and 3-3 in the ACC, KenPom projects the Eagles to finish at 18-13 overall, 8-10 in the ACC. That record, when combined with a huge early December win over Duke, is good enough to foster bubble conversation for the first time in Chestnut Hill in nearly a decade.